Plant-based diets are being tested to treat headaches.
Headaches top reasons for ER visits and doctor consultations. Another way to try to prevent them is to identify their causes and avoid them. Migraines react to life’s ups & downs: stress, hunger, sleep issues, weather, hormones, some foods & drinks (chocolate, cheese, alcohol).
Regarding food therapy, the so-called Father of Modern Medicine, William Osler suggested trying a “solid vegetable diet.” While meat may have anti-inflammatory effects, some studies suggest a vegan diet, rich in antioxidants, could also reduce migraine-related nerve inflammation.
My video reveals: Placebo did little for headaches, but a plant-based diet dramatically reduced pain (details at 1:08).
Now, “it is possible that the pain-reducing effects of a vegan diet may be, at least in part, due to weight loss.” Study participants lost nearly nine pounds more when they ate a plant-based diet for a month, as shown below, and in 1:22.
I’m just saying to lower cooking oil can help. Those who ate for a month consumed less than 30 grams of fat daily (for example, less than two tablespoons of oil per day), experienced “significant reductions in headache frequency, severity, duration, and medication”—sixfold. decrease in frequency and intensity, as you can see below and at 1:44 in my video. They went from three migraine attacks every two weeks to one a month. And, by “low fat,” the researchers did not mean that SnackWell’s; they meant more fruits, vegetables, and beans. Before the food industry codified and corrupted the term, eating “low fat” meant eating an apple, for example, not Kellogg’s Apple Jacks.
Now, they ate a low-fat diet—about 10 percent fat for someone eating 2,500 calories a day. The study (2:22) showed headache improvement even with less than 20% fat, not just super-low-fat diets. Researchers believe it may be due to green veggies’ impact on migraine-causing peptides, not just saturated fat reduction.
Drug companies have been trying to come up with something that combines CGRP, but the drugs have failed to work well. They are also poisonous, which is a problem we don’t have with cabbage, as you can see below and at 3:01 in mine. video.
Green vegetables also contain magnesium. Found in all foods but most concentrated in green leafy vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, magnesium is the central atom in chlorophyll, as shown below and in 3:15. Therefore, you can see how much magnesium-rich foods are in the production area by the intensity of their green color. Skip the side effects! While magnesium supplements might not lessen migraines, they can reduce frequency. Focus on natural sources like food instead – talk to your doctor about a healthy magnesium intake.
Any foods that might be particularly helpful? You may remember that I mentioned the ground ginger. What about caffeine?Caffeine can boost OTC pain relievers! Studies suggest 130mg (3 cups of tea) helps with tension headaches, 100mg for migraines (more at 4:00). That’s about what you can expect to get from three cups of tea, as you can see below, and at 4:00 in my place. video. (I believe it is a coincidence that the principal investigator of this study was named Lipton.)
Please note that you can overdo it. If you take children and teenagers with headaches who drink 1.5 liters of cola a day and cut out the soda, you can cure 90 percent of them. However, this may be a cola effect rather than a caffeine effect.
Skip the Carolina Reaper (world’s hottest pepper) – ouch! Beat the heat! Extreme temperatures (video 4:41) can trigger headaches, like the man who ate the world’s hottest pepper (article). Why am I not surprised that it was a man?
I’ve covered it before ginger and articles lavender due to migraines. It blossomed can help relieve PMS symptoms, including headaches. Headache relief: Plant-based trick (minus the tapeworms!)
Hot peppers, despite causing headaches in some, can also be used as a treatment. Check out my group headache relief video with hot sauce.